Clothing for a machine for producing a fibrous web

ABSTRACT

Clothing in a machine for producing a fibrous web, for example a paper, board or tissue web, from a fibrous suspension. The machine has a wet end, a press section and a drying section and in each case there is clothing in the wet end, the press section and the drying section in order to guide the fibrous web. The clothing has integrated into the clothing at least one means for picking up and/or forwarding data about the clothing or the environment of the clothing.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of German Patent Application No. 10 2004 044 570.2 filed on Sep. 15, 2004, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to clothing in a machine for producing a fibrous web, in particular a paper, board or tissue web, from a fibrous suspension, the machine comprising a wet end, a press section and a drying section and in each case there being clothing in the wet end, the press section and the drying section in order to guide the fibrous web.

2. Discussion of Background Information

U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,826,627 and 5,152,326 disclose clothing for papermachines with fabrics which consist of a plurality of woven layers with weft and warp threads, the layers being connected to one another by individual threads. In this case, there are different possibilities for connecting the woven layers to one another.

Known papermachine clothing is materials which represent purely passive constituent parts of a papermachine; it is unable to supply any information or enter into any kind of interrelationship with the machine. This means that, although the papermachine may be viewed as a complete system, no feedback is given to the clothing by the papermachine and vice versa.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object is to create clothing which is capable of ensuring feedback between the papermachine, that is to say the remaining constituent parts of the papermachine, and the clothing.

According to the invention, in the case of clothing of the type mentioned at the beginning, this object is achieved in that there is in the clothing at least one means for picking up and/or forwarding data about the clothing or the environment of the clothing.

According to the invention, use is made of clothing which enters actively into communication with the papermachine and causes corresponding reactions on the latter.

Advantageous developments of the invention are contained in the subclaims, the description and the drawings.

Papermachine clothing is created which is suitable for all types of use of clothing in the papermachine, that is for example as wet-end fabrics, press felts, transport belts or as clothing in a single-row drying section having drying cylinders and deflection rolls.

Depending on the required “level of intelligence” of the clothing, for example microsensors and/or data loggers and/or micro transponders are incorporated in the same, that is to say these devices are introduced into the clothing in such a way that they are preferably protected on the upper side and underside by a layer, for example a fabric layer, of the clothing.

The microsensors fulfill the active task of feeding determined values back from the possible measurement areas comprising mechanics, thermodynamics, oscillations, electrical engineering or acoustics or chemistry, such as charge potential, conductivity, pH, ion strength, ion content.

The incorporated data loggers pick up data, which they obtain from the microsensors, for example, for example over relatively long time periods, and in this way permit recording of trends or profiles and monitor the control behavior of the papermachine.

The incorporated transponders fulfill, for example, a passive task in relation to pulses, which are forwarded to the papermachine by said transponders. These are primarily counting and position pulses or state reference variables relating to the clothing.

By incorporating the information obtained by the sensors and the transponders into the processes, in particular the control loops, of the papermachine, the possibility is created of optimizing the running properties in the direct communication with the same, and of increasing the efficiency.

Via the incorporation of the clothing into the control of the papermachine, there is the possibility of considering the papermachine and the clothing as one system and optimizing the running properties on line.

Thus, microsensors and/or data loggers and/or micro transponders are preferably incorporated into a control loop of the machine and/or generate signal variables for a controller in the control loop or for a plurality of control loops.

There are various possible ways of arranging the microsensors and/or the data loggers and/or the micro transponders, for example arranged in the transverse direction or diagonally over the width of the clothing. By means of the diagonal arrangement of the sensors, a high resolution of the measured values obtained can be achieved in fast processes.

The result is many possible uses for the transponders used according to the invention which, for example, forward the number of circuits of the clothing, the position of the clothing, in particular the distortion and/or the length or width change, and/or the synchronization of drives within the machine, or data relating to product identification.

The microsensors can be used for the purpose of generating values for the pressure pulses, in particular from a press nip in the press section, in particular for adjusting the press nip, wear pulses, in particular as values of the pressure or the conductivity, temperature profiles, in particular in the drying section, electric fields or charge potentials, force extensions, for example when adjusting the negative pressures or vacua acting in the papermachine, or for the purpose of measuring soiling.

In the following text, the invention will be explained in more detail in an exemplary embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is further described in the detailed description which follows, in reference to the noted plurality of drawings by way of non-limiting examples of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, in which like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic longitudinal section of a portion of clothing into which transponders have been introduced, and

FIG. 2 shows a cross section through an edge region of the clothing with a transponder embedded therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the present invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the present invention in more detail than is necessary for the fundamental understanding of the present invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the present invention may be embodied in practice.

Embedded in clothing 1 (FIG. 1) there are transponders 2 which are located in a row in the transverse direction, based on the running direction of the fibrous web. The transverse direction extends between the points A and B. In addition, microsensors can also be embedded in the clothing 1, for example alternating with the transponders 2.

One transponder 3 (FIG. 2) is embedded in the clothing 1 in an edge region.

For the purpose of product identification, the transponders 2, 3 are embedded in particular in the edge regions of the clothing 1, in order to facilitate rapid product identification during service on the papermachine and the possibility of checking the stock keeping during stocktaking.

The incorporation of two transponders one after the other permits fast measurement of the instantaneous speed at various positions in the papermachine and can be used as a trigger signal. For example, the local acceleration and braking of the papermachine clothing, for example upstream of driven rolls, vacuum boxes and presses, and the extensions which occur in the process, can be determined directly and regulated.

The incorporation of a transponder 2, 3 at a specific position, for example at a seam, permits the observation and triggering or synchronization of specific processes, for example the production of a steam surge on the seam zone, microwave pulses, specific cleaning or chemical metering, as a result of the use as a trigger signal. Transponders 2, 3 can also be used for web control.

It goes without saying that the transponders 2, 3 can also be integrated into the clothing in various other forms, in particular also in conjunction with data loggers and/or microsensors. In this case, for example the microsensors forward the measured signals picked up by them to the transponders, which the latter then send to receivers within the papermachine, which in turn can be integrated in control loops.

By means of the measurement of specific data, for example of the pressing pressure within a press nip in the press section, by means of a sensor embedded in the clothing, it is possible to change the pressing pressure, for example while taking account of a value obtained from the fibrous web, in order to influence the quality of the fibrous web.

It is noted that the foregoing examples have been provided merely for the purpose of explanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the present invention. While the present invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment, it is understood that the words which have been used herein are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. Changes may be made, within the purview of the appended claims, as presently stated and as amended, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention in its aspects. Although the present invention has been described herein with reference to particular means, materials and embodiments, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein; rather, the present extends to all functionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as are within the scope of the appended claims. 

1. Clothing used in a machine for producing a fibrous web, for example a paper, board or tissue web, from a fibrous suspension, the machine comprising a wet end, a press section and a drying section and in each case there being clothing in the wet end, the press section and the drying section in order to guide the fibrous web, wherein the clothing comprises at least one of a means for picking up and a means for forwarding data, the data comprising information about at least one of the clothing and the environment of the clothing.
 2. The clothing of claim 1, wherein at least one of microsensors, data loggers and transponders are incorporated in the clothing.
 3. The clothing of claim 1, wherein the at least one means for picking up and for forwarding data is integrated into a control loop belonging to the machine and generates signal variables for a controller.
 4. The clothing of claim 1, wherein the at least one means for picking up and for forwarding data are arranged in in at least one of the transverse direction over the width of the clothing, diagonally over the width of the clothing, and in the longitudinal direction of the clothing.
 5. The clothing of claim 2, wherein the transponders transmits at least one of the number of circuits of the clothing, the position of the clothing, the distortion of the clothing, the length of the clothing, the width change of the clothing, the synchronization of drives within the machine, and data relating to product identification.
 6. The clothing of claim 2, wherein the microsensors generate values of at least one of pressure pulses, pressure pulses from a press nip in the press section, wear pulses, wear pulses as values of pressure, wear pulses as values of conductivity, temperature profiles, temperature profiles in the drying section, electric fields, charge potentials, and force extensions. 